Blueprint for Accountability: Gaza, Goldstone and the Crisis of Impunity

When the Goldstone Report was released in September 2009, it quickly became the report heard round the world. The United Nations Human Rights Council investigation of the 2008-09 Gaza conflict shook the international community with its unflinching look at the outrages unleashed on a captive population, and it deeply rattled Israel with its call for accountability for war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas. Last month the lead author of the report, Justice Richard Goldstone, once again made headlines when he wrote an essay in The Washington Post “reconsidering” one of the key findings of the report: the targeting of civilians by Israel. The piece has been seized on by Israel’s supporters to try to discredit the report once and for all.

On May 19th, 2011 a distinguished panel of experts gathered, including a co-author of the report, to discuss the fallout of Goldstone’s Op-Ed and the ongoing need for accountability for the crimes of Operation Cast Lead. More than 18 months after it was released, the Goldstone Report remains as critical as ever.